StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Paternal Age and Mental Illness - Term Paper Example

Cite this document
Summary
This paper two psychology articles related to paternal age and mental illness in children were reviewed in order to compare and contrast similar yet different sources of information. The both articles provide information about the effect of increasing paternal age on mental illness in offspring…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER93.8% of users find it useful

Extract of sample "Paternal Age and Mental Illness"

Paternal Age and Mental Illness There are a wide variety of sources that provide information and data on innumerable s. Two psychology articles related to paternal age and mental illness in children were reviewed in order to compare and contrast similar yet different sources of information. One article entitled “The Father Factor” was featured in Scientific American Mind, a popular psychological magazine. The second article, “Advancing Paternal Age and the Risk of Schizophrenia,” was featured in the Archives of General Psychiatry, a peer-reviewed publication. While both articles provide information about the effect of increasing paternal age on mental illness in offspring, their structures and delivery of information are different. The first article reviewed was “The Father Factor,” written by Paul Raeburn, a man who fathered a child when he was past the age of fifty. When Paul and his wife were expecting their child, they were both well aware of problems that can occur when a woman is pregnant after age forty. Tests were performed to rule out genetic abnormalities in the fetus, particularly Down syndrome. The results all showed the unborn child to be healthy and while they were no guarantee that the child would be born in perfect health, Paul and his wife felt a measure of relief. It was only immediately after the birth of their son Henry that Paul heard a television report about children born to fathers over forty and the likelihood of their having autism as a result of increased paternal age. Paul researched the reported study at home and found that researchers in Israel not only found a link between paternal age and autism, but also a link to schizophrenia. In fact he discovered that a “40-year-old man’s risk of having a child with schizophrenia is the same as a 40-year-old woman’s risk of having a child with Down syndrome.” (31). Paul had no idea that he should have been concerned over his own age instead of just his wife’s. More recent studies have also shown that children of older father’s have an increased risk of bipolar disorder. Studies in the United States show a tripling of births to men between the ages of 40 and 49 and a decrease of over twenty percent of births to men younger than 30 since 1980. Raeburn mentions the study by Dolores Malaspina that was one of the first to research schizophrenia as a biological illness caused by paternal rather than maternal genes. It had always been assumed that because woman’s eggs age at the same rate she does, they began to deteriorate, thus causing disease. Some geneticists, however, had begun to think that continuous copying of genes during sperm productions leads to increased error and therefore genetic disorders in children. Malaspina used information on almost 90,000 children and their parents in Israel and found “that paternal age was strongly linked to the risk of schizophrenia.” (32) While Malaspina’s research has been repeated, this mechanism for schizophrenia development is not universally agreed upon and more research is required. The second article reviewed, “Advancing Paternal Age and the Risk of Schizophrenia,” is in fact the results of the study performed by Delores Malaspina and her colleagues. The male germ line is seen as a new source for genetic mutations, likely because of errors occurring during replication of sperm cells. The Israel Psychiatric Registry contains records of 87, 907 individuals born in Jerusalem between 1964 and 1976 and these were used to establish a link between advanced paternal age and Schizophrenia. This was an ideal group as it was based on an entire population, therefore eliminating bias in sampling. After controlling maternal age and other factors, results showed “that paternal age was a strong and significant predictor of the schizophrenia diagnosis, but not of other psychiatric disorders.” (361)* Thus, both articles conclude that advanced paternal age is an indicator for schizophrenia in their children. While both of these important and influential media discuss groundbreaking and surprising scientific facts, the similarities at large end there. The methods of delivery – structure of each article – are designed for two different types of reader. Academic American Mind is a popular magazine read largely by laymen, though academic readers can certainly glean important information from them as well. Many articles are written by average people – that is to say, those who work and live primarily outside of the scientific community. Peer-reviewed articles are publications that are written by members of the scientific community – doctors, researches, scientists – and are, as the name implies, reviewed by other members of that community prior to and after publication. Many peer-reviewed articles go under several revisions and are updated periodically to stay as accurate as possible. These two articles are not only written by authors from different backgrounds and educations, the way the articles read further identifies the differences between intended audiences. The general public - laymen - is the target audience for authors of these articles. The information is narrated as a story and broken up into different sections based on information covered. Paul Raeburn had had insight into the affect of paternal age on mental illness potentially developing in his own child. He begins with descriptions of his and his wife’s concerns about her age prior to giving birth. The story then progresses to the writer’s discovery of an article involving concern over paternal age and childbirth. While the link between paternal age and mental illness in itself is a unknown to man, Raeburn proceeds to provide backup information in four additional sections including recent trends in birth rates for men in upper and lower age ranges, comparison of the aging female egg versus the sperm of an aging male, background on how Delores Malaspina began her research and subsequent studies that replicated her results, and the idea of alternate opinions on the mechanisms that cause schizophrenia and other biological diseases in addition to a link between age and illness. The peer-reviewed article is set up very similar to a lab report. The article progresses from background information to method of study, its results and conclusions of that study; the hypothesis that paternal age is linked to mental illness in offspring was supported by the information used in the study. There are no personal stories or explanations as to why this information was important to the researchers performing the study but only results that should concern the entire population. This article is much more straightforward in the delivery of scientific information as opposed to the magazine article that was more personalized. "Advanced Paternal Age and the Risk of Schizophrenia" is a study focused on schizophrenia whereas Raeburns article made references to other data that pointed towards links to other mental illnesses. It is the setup of each article that most stands out when comparing the two. The psychological magazine article is much more reader-friendly in the sense that it progresses like a story and involves personal experiences in order to convey importance of the subject to the reader. The ideas, hypotheses, and findings featured in the article are certainly helpful to anyone studying this area of psychology in order to gain general knowledge on the subject. Conversely, the peer-reviewed article is much more focused on one specific hypothesis and illness rather than multiple findings as listed in the previous article. Specific statistics and conclusions based on actual test data are featured and provide information that is more useful to psychology or medical students and professionals who rely on case studies to write reports and form additional hypotheses related to the study. For example, a similar article was published in the Archives of General Psychology that focused solely on a link between advanced paternal age and bipolar disorder in children. The findings in these articles are indeed peer-reviewed; scientists and other professionals in the area provide feedback, which can lead to support or need for further research on the subject. Paul Raeburns article is based on general data and findings but lacks direct support from the psychological science community. In conclusion, there are many types of media that successfully convey important and influential information on scientific subjects. Two of the more important publications dedicated to psychology are psychological magazines and peer-reviewed articles. Both sources are equally valuable in their conveyance of information. Someone unfamiliar with scientific terms and experimental procedures would be much more comfortable reading an article like "The Father Factor" is it is written in language that is easily understood and interpreted by the general public. Peer-reviewed articles are very cut and dry and provide specific scientific findings that may be confusing to those unfamiliar with research techniques but invaluable to those specifically working in the field of psychology. Therefore, it is important to first establish what type of information is important for the research being done and how familiar a person is with interpreting and understanding scientific data. Once this is done a choice can be made as to which media is more appropriate for the circumstances. Works Cited Malaspina, Dolores, MD, Susan Harlap, MBBS, Shmuel Fennig, MD, Dov Heiman, MPH, Daniella Nahon, BA, Dina Feldman, MA, Ezra S. Susser MD, PhD. “Advanced Paternal Age and the Risk of Schizophrenia.” Archives of General Psychiatry 58.4 (2001): 361-367. Print. Raeburn, Paul. “The Father Factor.” Scientific American Mind 20.1 (2009): 30-35. Print. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Paternal Age and Mental Illness Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/psychology/1572551-paternal-age-and-mental-illness
(Paternal Age and Mental Illness Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 Words)
https://studentshare.org/psychology/1572551-paternal-age-and-mental-illness.
“Paternal Age and Mental Illness Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/psychology/1572551-paternal-age-and-mental-illness.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Paternal Age and Mental Illness

Children of Older Men at Greater Risk of Mental Illness

Similarly, if the association between paternal age and risk of child psychiatric abnormalities is strongly established, further advancements in its prevention and early detection can be made.... This paper stresses that the article “Children of older men at greater risk of mental illness, study suggests” has been compiled by Ian Sample and published in The Guardian on 26 February 2014.... The article “Children of older men at greater risk of mental illness, study suggests” has been compiled by Ian Sample and published in The Guardian on 26 February 2014....
2 Pages (500 words) Article

Mental illness increases HIV/AIDS tests

Individuals suffering from mental illness are likely to have received more HIV/AIDS tests than their counterparts are.... mental illness increases HIV/AIDS tests The study revealed that people who suffered from mental disorders or who provide them with due care recognize the importance of testing the patients (Yehia 2014).... This article is a research paper analyzing HIV Testing among Adults with mental illness in the United States.... This research aims to give statistics on the possibility of increased HIV test with regard to quantity and time spent suffering from mental illness....
6 Pages (1500 words) Term Paper

Mental Illness Increases HIV and AIDS Tests

This paper 'mental illness Increases HIV and AIDS Tests" focuses on the fact that this article received publication in the AIDS Patient Care and STDs journal in December 2014.... Individuals suffering from mental illness are likely to have received more HIV/AIDS tests than their counterparts are.... This research aims to give statistics on the possibility of increased HIV test with regard to quantity and time spent suffering from mental illness....
6 Pages (1500 words) Article

Psychology: Optimism, Pessimism, and Behaviour Control

This paper "Psychology: Optimism, Pessimism, and Behaviour Control" gives excellent examples of articles, researches and reports that aim to view the human's behaviour, how to control it, describes physiologic conditions, and also researches the term of loneliness and its affection on our health....
10 Pages (2500 words) Annotated Bibliography

Teens' Mental Well-Being - Diagnosis, Treatment, and Service Gaps

The first one is mental illness in which the individual has a condition that may be affected by social issues, but is not cured by taking those issues out of the situation.... While one side of mental illness promotes the idea that both types of locations of the illness result in mental health problems, another perspective suggests that while one should be medicated pharmacologically, the other should be addressed through coping skills rather than medicating situations as if they were the illness....
11 Pages (2750 words) Research Paper

The Psychological Theories of Stress

The paper "The Psychological Theories of Stress" describes that stress can indeed cause illness and this is proven not only by the cognitive theories of stress but also by the theories that establish the link between stress and biology or physiology.... However, unlike primary appraisal, which does not necessarily explain the connection between stress and illness, the secondary appraisal may actually provide an explanation.... ased on the Cognitive Appraisal Theory, people usually undergo a mental process, i....
8 Pages (2000 words) Literature review

Developments Mental Health Care and Treatment since 1950s

This literature review looks at the aspects of mental illness, emphasizing the history, etiology, and most importantly, developments in mental health care and treatment.... Consequently, it was treated as an individual's problem and victims of mental illness faced severe stigmatization from society.... Hippocrates was the pioneer in establishing treatments for mental illness with techniques rooted in neither superstition nor religion.... Nevertheless, stigmatization of persons with mental disorders continued until the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries when the new population began placing more thoughts on the existence of the mental illness....
7 Pages (1750 words) Literature review

Sociological Explanations of Health Determinants

Chronic diseases are wide-ranging composed of various physical and mental changes in health.... A well trained and registered nurse should be able to recognize socio-economic factors such as gender, ethnicity, religion, age, disability, culture and gender have a significant influence on a person's response to, beliefs on health and illness.... Good health is not merely the absence of illness but rather it is a state of being in whole physical, emotional, mental and social wellbeing....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us